It's spooking us!

by David Himelfield

A PUB in Birchencliffe may be haunted – and the new owners want to know why.

Richard Lloyd, new license holder at The Grey Horse Inn in Halifax Road, is looking for an explanation of inexplicable goings-on and insight into the Victorian pub’s history.

Mr Lloyd, landlady Melanie Pitchford and bartender Hayley Dart have witnessed some unusual happenings since July, when Richard moved in.

Richard, 41, says the first supernatural event happened just weeks after he started his new job.

He explained: “Two regulars and myself were sat on one side of the bar. We were talking about ghosts. After 10 to 15 minutes, one wine glass in the middle of a pile of glasses tipped over and shattered on the shelf. It didn’t just break – it shattered violently.”

And Mr Lloyd, who lives in the pub, said spooky occurrences haven’t been confined to the bar.

Richard says gas cylinders in the cellar have been regularly turning themselves off with considerable force.

He says: “It’s not like someone has twiddled with the knobs. They’ve been jammed. I have to use every ounce of strength to turn them back on. There’s only me and Mel and Hayley and I just can’t see them doing something like that.

“Hayley’s petrified of the cellar. She’d only go down there with all the lights on and the door open. She went down the other day and said the lights were flickering on and off. Now she won’t go down there again.

“A cellar has to be cool to chill the beer, but I’ve been down there and the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. It doesn’t feel right and I’m most cynical and sceptical person. Really I’m looking for a rational explanation.

“I’ve heard a few stories. There’s one of a landlady in the 1940s or 1950s who killed herself. There’s another of a landlord in the 1990s who saw the door of the cellar open and a spectral figure appear. I’d be interested to hear any stories that people have.”

The Grey Horse Inn was converted from a row of cottages around 1860. In 1983, renovators discovered a 20ft well in the old living room which was drained, filled and capped.